10/10/2019 5:19:32 AM

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Interviews yesterday with Amazon for a position on the Kuiper Project.

I thought it went well. 7 hours of interviews, plus lunch "non a interview" interview.

I'm hoarse from all the talking.

10/10/2019 5:23:14 AM

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King County considers busing more homeless out of the region

Once again a non-solution solution. Let's make it someone else problem!

Yes it should be an option, if some one absolutely refuse help, refuse to get off the street, and hasn't done anything criminal. Then it's an option.

Occasional Reader 10/10/2019 5:35:59 AM

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Good morning.  I am staying home sick today. I actually feel better than I did last night, and temperature is back to normal, but still tired and achy. In other news; ESPN uses Chinese propaganda map which includes Taiwan  and a bunch of disputed territories as being part of Communist China: 

https://pjmedia.com/instapundit/344834/

vxbush 10/10/2019 5:50:33 AM

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In #1 Unknown user said: Interviews yesterday with Amazon for a position on the Kuiper Project.

So you're going to help bring about the surveillance state! Thanks a lot! 

/////

In #3 Occasional Reader said:  I am staying home sick today.

I'm sorry to hear that. I hope you feel better. I was sick yesterday, but it was just a general sense of "ugh." 

vxbush 10/10/2019 5:53:38 AM

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In #1 Unknown user said: Interviews yesterday with Amazon for a position on the Kuiper Project.

On a more serious note, as I recall Bill Gates was one of the first people suggesting that we put up satellites to cover the earth in wifi. 

Occasional Reader 10/10/2019 5:57:30 AM

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Reply to vxbush in 4:

Thanks.   I had spent the entire afternoon at work yesterday feeling increasingly lousy, when I got home my temperature was 100.5, not alarming but enough to make me decide that yeah, I'm actually sick and not just tired. Feeling better this morning and temperature is back to normal but I'm staying home, in part because there are two pregnant women in my office and I don't want to risk getting them, in particular, sick. 

10/10/2019 6:02:36 AM

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Reply to vxbush in 4:

Big Brother is really Big Sister and her name is Alexa.

I was thinking of a geo-political upside during the interviews.

Satellite WiFi will not be received well by repressive regimes. Depends on what the ground station up and down link is like. Everyone can have internet access with going though the government servers.

There is also that recent EU court ruling that Facebook has to abide by rules set by individual countries for regulating speech on the platform. That requires the companies provisions. The recent NBA / China flap is an example. NBA and the media, new and entertainment conglomerates what the China markets more than freedom of speech.

I heard a clip of some high educated but ignorant yahoo, paraphrased, he said by working with China we'll have a compromise. They'll adopt some of freedoms if we adopt some of their censorship.

10/10/2019 6:03:41 AM

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Reply to Occasional Reader in 3:

Take it easy and get well!

10/10/2019 6:05:14 AM

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In #5 vxbush said: On a more serious note, as I recall Bill Gates was one of the first people suggesting that we put up satellites to cover the earth in wifi. 

Bill did say that. The idea has been around. Until now nobody had the capital to give it a serious go.

vxbush 10/10/2019 6:07:21 AM

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In #7 Unknown user said: Big Brother is really Big Sister and her name is Alexa.

I was thinking of a geo-political upside during the interviews. Satellite WiFi will not be received well by repressive regimes. Depends on what the ground station up and down link is like. Everyone can have internet access with going though the government servers. There is also that recent EU court ruling that Facebook has to abide by rules set by individual countries for regulating speech on the platform. That requires the companies provisions. The recent NBA / China flap is an example. NBA and the media, new and entertainment conglomerates what the China markets more than freedom of speech. I heard a clip of some high educated but ignorant yahoo, paraphrased, he said by working with China we'll have a compromise. They'll adopt some of freedoms if we adopt some of their censorship.

vxbush 10/10/2019 6:13:28 AM

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Reply to vxbush in 10:

Ah, now I understand what you mean about not hitting "Create", JCM! 

Yeah, Alexa is too freaky for me. I have a coworker who loves it and even has a unit in her car so she can talk to it. I just can't relinquish that kind of control. 

EU's ruling that Facebook has to abide by *everyone's* rules is a nice idea but it's going to be a nightmare for FB. There is a definite chance that two countries will rule in diametrically opposite ways. So the company has to set up its database rules for what it will display/keep/whathaveyou based on the location of each computer/mobile device using its service. That is going to create so much extra overhead code to keep track of that FB is going to slow to a crawl. Someone, somewhere, is going to be able to go back and hit FB over the head for not abiding by rule X in country Y. 

As for the upside to always-available wifi, everywhere, I guess I would first sell it as a search and recovery tool, given that so much of the west is wide open spaces. That in combination with the three words location app means that search and rescue can find anyone, anywhere. 

10/10/2019 6:58:38 AM

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Reply to vxbush in 11:

As with anything there are looks of permutations of use and misuse.

My interview NDA didn't release me to get project details.

But a key for all of it is the uplink/downlink unit. Will it be like dish network and need a small dish? Or completely portable?

I have to believe they part of the project will be a portable battery uplink/downlink.

Syrah 10/10/2019 8:15:09 AM

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An interesting problem with satellite WiFi is that low geostationary orbit drag will bring the satellites down and high geostationary orbit will require big transmitters and receivers.

there is some interesting trade offs to consider.

one option would be to build really cheap satellites for low orbit so that they would be cheap to replace. 

Syrah 10/10/2019 8:21:55 AM

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California is playing rolling black out bingo. They have banned plastic straws and now have banned those little plastic shampoo bottles that motels/hotels would give their guests.

what a fun place.

Syrah 10/10/2019 8:25:01 AM

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10/10/2019 8:25:43 AM

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Reply to Syrah in 13:

The Amazon FCC Kuiper Filing has 3 types, there are low orbit, mid-level and a high orbit.

The assumption I'm making is the low ones are uplink and down link satellites. The high ones are the network backbone, and the mid, the distribution net.

10/10/2019 8:27:01 AM

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Reply to Syrah in 14:

Don't worry when the enviros win and dams are gone to save the salmon and orcas, we'll have rolling blackouts too and share in candlelight fun!

Syrah 10/10/2019 8:30:25 AM

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Reply to Syrah in 13:

one advantage of the cheap disposable low orbit crash-a-matic satellites is that it would be relatively easy to upgrade the whole system as technology improves.  Big, expensive, robust giant transmitter/receiver birds in high orbit would be a barrier to keeping up with technology improvements. 

Syrah 10/10/2019 8:40:42 AM

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Reply to Unknown user in 16:

lots of interesting trade offs to consider.

25 years ago, Windows95 was the latest greatest. A pentium processor was really wow.

things change fast.  

How robust and expensive should the system be if the software and components age that rapidly?

this may be a case where cheap and disposable has a serous advantage.

Syrah 10/10/2019 8:48:48 AM

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Interesting stuff.

for a moment there, I half entertained the wild thought of getting back into aerospace work....

It sounds like it will be interesting if not exciting work JCM.  I hope they invite you in  

Occasional Reader 10/10/2019 8:52:16 AM

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Reply to Syrah in 13: 

"drag will bring the satellites down "

 Not if drag represents the satellites living out who they really are, h8er!

Syrah 10/10/2019 8:54:44 AM

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Reply to Occasional Reader in 21:

flaming satellite drags will always be able perform in Seattle Libraries. 

10/10/2019 8:58:55 AM

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Reply to Syrah in 22:

Just lost another keyboard to coffee spew.....

Occasional Reader 10/10/2019 12:50:49 PM

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10/10/2019 1:02:38 PM

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Reply to Occasional Reader in 24:

I buy used or refurbish unlocked phones and just drop in the sim card.

Occasional Reader 10/10/2019 1:05:52 PM

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Reply to Unknown user in 25:

 I tend to buy a new phone, and drive it into the ground. Hence, why the phone I brought into the store was a 5S. 

vxbush 10/10/2019 1:19:02 PM

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Reply to Occasional Reader in 24:

I ordered mine weeks ago and just asked them to send it to me via delivery. No way I can hang out at a store that long--especially when sick! Ugh! 

Occasional Reader 10/10/2019 2:15:38 PM

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Reply to vxbush in 27:

 The reason I had to hang out in the store was because of a technical problem in setting up the new phone from the back up of the old phone. So I would've had to either go to the store anyway, or be on the helpline for a long time, even if I had ordered the phone. 

Kosh's Shadow 10/10/2019 4:06:16 PM

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In #7 Unknown user said: There is also that recent EU court ruling that Facebook has to abide by rules set by individual countries for regulating speech on the platform. That requires the companies provisions. The recent NBA / China flap is an example. NBA and the media, new and entertainment conglomerates what the China markets more than freedom of speech.

And next, the Arabs will ban pro-Israel statements and the UN will insist the US goes along.

Kosh's Shadow 10/10/2019 4:42:43 PM

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Reply to vxbush in 11:

Actually, Facebook can already handle not showing content in particular countries. The EU court ruled that if it cannot be shown in the EU, it cannot be available in ANY country because Europeans can use different providers to access it.